Thought you could all use a little fluff between the chapters of "Katabasis" so here you go!

This story was requested by Mika over on Ao3 who wanted to see the boys camping :)

Setting: Season 9 Typical AU

Rating: K

Warnings: Dean gets the short end of the stick as usual :P

Cas Is One With Nature

Set Season 9

"Well, here we have it, the great outdoors."

Dean looked around with a less-than-pleased expression on his face as he threw the bag that contained the brand new tent down on the ground. "Personally, I thought the beach with sun, sand, and bikini clad women would be better, but I guess I was out-voted."

"Come on, Dean, when have we ever actually gone camping—for fun?" Sam wheedled. "And Cas wanted to try it."

"Perhaps next time we can take a vacation on the beach," Castiel told Dean diplomatically as he and Sam shared a smile as the elder Winchester continued to complain.

"It'll be fun, promise," Sam assured his brother.

"And this place is beautiful, and peaceful," Castiel added.

"Right. Because I've had so many good experiences in the woods," Dean muttered. "I'm gonna be real relaxed when I try to sleep out here tonight."

"Shut up, jerk," Sam said and threw the sleeping bag he was carrying at Dean, causing him to oomph his air out as it hit him in the stomach. "It's gonna be great. But let's get the tent set up."

"Okay, bitch, but if this goes sideways, don't come crying to me."

Cas listened fondly to their bickering as he set the bags he was carrying down. He was actually very excited to go camping. They'd been putting in a lot of hours hunting lately, and Sam had suggested a weekend for them to just take some time to "chill" as Dean would say. Cas had tentatively mentioned that he had wanted to try camping and Sam had instantly been excited by the idea. Dean, not so much, but they'd still managed to talk him into it. Cas had even been able to get Beth, the girl he had saved from miscreants a couple months back, to watch Trouble, even though the cat was usually okay when they had to leave for a few days on a hunt. Now he didn't even have to worry about his cat getting into his namesake back at the bunker. He was very much looking forward to the pure relaxation that being this far away from society could bring.

"I can't believe I left my Baby down there at the trailhead," Dean grumbled. "What if someone tries to break into her, or a bear claws her up? Or some hipster douchebag runs into her with his Prius?"

"Dean, calm down," Sam reassured him. "Nothing is going to happen to the car, there's rangers in and out down there all the time to make sure stuff like that doesn't happen and to check up on anyone who's been gone for longer than anticipated. Just relax and enjoy this."

Dean muttered under his breath. "I'm not going to enjoy anything until we figure out how to get this tent set up."

They had opened the bag and were currently separating all the rods and stakes. Sam frowned too. "Yeah…it did kind of look easier in the store."

"Perhaps the instructions will help," Cas tried as he pulled out the small leaflet. But after he had finally located the portion in English, the diagrams still didn't offer anything of value. "Huh."

"Well, it can't be too hard, right?" Sam offered, beginning to snap some of the collapsible poles together.

"Why did you have to jinx it?" Dean groaned as he turned to Cas. "Help me spread this thing out and get it untangled."

There was a lot of scrabbling, arguing, and cursing that happened in the next hour while they fought to get the tent set up. Dean was even less happy when he got snapped in the face by one of the tent poles when it wouldn't go into the pocket properly, and finally took it out on hammering the stakes into the ground once the tent was finally upright.

"That was…difficult," Cas admitted.

"Difficult? Practically one of the Trials of Hercules," Dean griped as he gave the final stake one last pound and straightened up.

"Alright, well, it's done now, so let's just get our stuff in there and then we can go hiking to see what's around here," Sam said, pulling a trail map out of his jacket pocket. "There's supposed to be a stream nearby. Maybe tomorrow we can go fishing."

"Fine," Dean mumbled and they tossed their sleeping bags into the tent before zipping it up. "Now hopefully a bear or a wendigo doesn't come along to tear down our last hour of work."

Sam rolled his eyes but turned to Cas with a smile as he slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Come on, Cas, let's go!"

Cas picked up his bag as well and followed Sam at a brisk pace, Dean bringing up the rear half-heartedly. But as they went along, all three of them seemed to settle in and relax. It really was beautiful, early autumn was turning the leaves in the trees orange and red, and the evergreens scented the air in a fresh, cool cleanness that you could only find out in the mountains. Cas watched the birds flit through the trees and the squirrels collecting the last nuts before the winter came. Even as an angel, he had enjoyed coming out into wild places like this whenever he'd had the chance to just sit and observe nature in peace. He decided he needed to try and do this more often.

The gurgle of water could be heard now, and soon they came across the stream Sam had mentioned.

"There it is!" Sam said, pointing ahead. "See, not even that far from camp."

"It's a nice spot," Cas said appreciatively, looking around, and stepping over to the bank, crouching to peer into the water. "I think it will be a good fishing spot as well."

"Yeah, it's actually not that bad out here," Dean admitted a bit grudgingly. Cas and Sam shared a satisfied look.

They hiked a little more before heading back to their camp. It was already late afternoon (thanks to the tent set-up taking them longer than expected) and the fresh air had made them all ravenous so they decided it was time for dinner.

Once back at the camp, Sam and Cas hunted for firewood while Dean pulled out the food items they had brought and started prepping for dinner.

"There's not a lot to work with here," he grumbled. "I mean, there's only some beef jerky as far as meat goes, but I'll make corn pancakes."

"We can roast the apples too," Sam offered, taking one of the fruits and slicing it into thick slabs. "It will be good."

"Tomorrow we should be able to catch some fish," Cas assured Dean."

"Yeah, alright," the elder Winchester said.

The simple meal turned out particularly delicious in Cas' opinion, but then, everything always tasted better when you were in the mountain air.

They sat talking around the campfire until it got dark, and then Sam and Cas carefully secured the food and hung it up in a nearby tree in precaution of any wild animals as Dean shored up the fire for the night, letting the embers burn themselves out.

Then it was time to turn in, which involved a lot more shuffling around inside the tent as they spread their sleeping bags out.

"Oh, dude, you have got to leave your boots outside," Sam told Dean, making a face.

"Yeah, like you're one to talk," Dean growled. "You tracked mud all over the place. Besides, what if some animal runs off with them?"

"Trust me, they're not gonna want to get anywhere near them."

Dean grumbled, but unzipped the tent and placed his boots outside the flap. "You know they said this tent fits six people, it barely fits the three of us, how friendly do they expect you to get?"

"There's plenty of room," Cas told him as he shuffled down into his sleeping bag, using his backpack and his rolled up jacket as a pillow.

"Unless Sam gets gassy overnight." Dean unzipped his sleeping bag as he too tried to settled down. "Ow, there's something digging into my back. Did we even check for rocks and pinecones?"

"Come on, Dean, you sleep in the car all the time, this isn't that much different," Sam said.

"Hey! Do not compare Baby to this tent!" Dean protested.

"Whatever, Dean, just try to sleep," Sam said with a yawn and rolled onto his side.

Dean grumbled a little more as he got into a comfortable position, and then he too finally settled down. Cas nestled down into his sleeping bag, warm and actually surprisingly comfortable. He closed his eyes, and was lulled to sleep by the sounds of a forest at night.

The next morning, Dean made more of the corn pancakes and coffee in a percolator over the fire. After breakfast they grabbed their packs and the couple fishing poles Sam had brought along and went off toward the stream they had found the day before.

Even after all the complaining the night before, Dean seemed to be in a better mood today even though he had said something about a crick in his back. Still, their vacation seemed to be going well.

They found a good spot on the shore of the stream and set up the poles. Cas let Sam and Dean fish while he wandered around, crouching at the edge of the stream, and peering into the crystal clear water. He reached in to pick up one of the glossy, smooth stones, the water chill and crisp.

After a few more minutes, he found a large rock on the bank and sat down. Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out a notebook and a pencil and began to sketch the landscape.

He lost time and didn't notice Sam had wandered over to him until a shadow fell over his paper.

"Wow, you're really good, Cas," he said appreciatively, bending to look closer at his work.

Cas smiled somewhat self-consciously. "Oh, thank you. I do enjoy sketching nature."

"Hey! I got a bite!" Dean called happily as he reeled his line in.

Sam grinned. "See, I knew he'd have fun," he said quietly to the ex-angel.

Cas grinned back and flipped to a clean page as Sam went back over to his brother. Cas turned toward them and began a new sketch, adding the two hunters this time.

Five decent-sized fish later, they began to pack up and head back to camp.

"I caught more than you!" Dean taunted his brother, holding up his fish and wiggling them at Sam's face.

"Only one more," Sam protested. "It's not that much to be proud about."

"Whatever, I take my victories where I can get them, Sasquatch," Dean replied and shoved his brother in the shoulder.

Somehow, as he turned to shove Sam, his foot caught on a rock and he tripped, and then proceeded to slip down the bank. Fish went flying, and Dean yelped as he landed with a splash in the river.

"Dean, are you okay?" Cas asked as he hurried up, peering down at the waterlogged Winchester.

"Dammit," Dean muttered as he hauled himself from the water, Sam and Cas lending a hand to pull him back onto the bank. Dean shivered from the cold water, and the chilly air. "Crap."

"Alright, time to get back to camp," Sam said and picked up Dean's dropped fish and put a hand on his brother's shoulder to guide him back.

"These are my only pair of boots," Dean grumbled. "And these jeans are gonna chafe. I hate the great friggin' outdoors."

Sam cast a longsuffering look over his shoulder at Cas as the ex-angel followed, shaking his head.

By the time they got back to camp, Dean was shuddering with cold, and he angrily disappeared into the tent to strip out of his soaked clothes. Unfortunately, they had all packed light so he had the borrow Sam's extra flannel to put over his since he would be without a jacket until his dried off. Sam hung Dean's wet clothes as Cas built up the fire, stoking it to life as Dean slumped onto a stump next to it, arms wrapped around himself as he stretched out his sock-feet.

"I'm gonna catch a cold," he grunted. "If I die of pneumonia it's your fault."

"Stop bitching," Sam told him. "You're tougher than that. What kind of hunter are you?"

"The kind that hunts and doesn't spend time in the woods for fun!" Dean groused.

"Here," Cas said and offered him a cup of hot coffee that he had made in the percolator. Dean took it and sipped appreciatively.

Eventually Dean stopped shivering, and Cas went to find more firewood as Sam cleaned the fish to get them ready for dinner.

"At least we have meat for dinner," Cas offered the older hunter.

"Fish isn't meat. Fish is fish," Dean grumped. "Rather have a hamburger."

"Well, you can't hunt hamburgers out in the woods," Sam snarked and Dean glared at him.

Cas and Sam at least enjoyed cooking the fish over the fire, and Cas enjoyed it even more when he got to taste it. He didn't think he'd eaten anything quite so good yet as a human—even peanut butter and jelly. He wondered why things just tasted better cooked over an open fire.

Even Dean seemed appeased by the meal. "Alright, so I guess it's not totally terrible," he muttered grudgingly.

Sam smirked at him across the fire as he put another slab of fish on Dean's plate. "Told you."

Unfortunately, even if he didn't exactly catch pneumonia, Dean did develop a sniffle as the temperature dropped and he was sniffing all night long, sneezing too. And after Sam insisted he go to bed, he fell asleep, only to snore—very loudly.

Sam and Cas, who had stayed up a bit to let the fire go down looked at each other with a weary expression. It was going to be a long night.

When they did finally get into the tent though, Sam shoved his brother onto his side and Dean whined and snorted, but at least stopped snoring. Cas and Sam both breathed a sigh of relief as they settled down in their own sleeping bags for another peaceful night in the woods.

Cas wasn't sure what woke him at first, but there was something making noise nearby that pulled him from sleep.

For a second he thought it might be Dean but the elder Winchester was sleeping soundly, mouth-breathing, but at least not snoring while he was curled up on his side. And Cas realized then that the noise he had heard was definitely coming from outside of the tent.

He wondered if Sam might have gone out to relieve himself, but upon inspection the younger Winchester was still in the tent too.

Cas then realized that it must be some kind of animal or…a monster.

He reached over for Sam first, and gripped his shoulder. The younger Winchester came awake instantly.

"What?" he asked.

"Shh, listen," Cas whispered.

Sam was still as they both listened to the shuffling of something that sounded very large and very close to the tent.

Sam sat up and Cas did the same, going to the tent flap. Sam had a flashlight and began to unzip the flap.

That noise disturbed Dean and he came to with a snort, sitting bolt upright. "Whasit?" he slurred.

"Shh," Sam hissed as the sounds stopped. Dean was instantly on the alert as well and pulled his gun from the bag that he had been sleeping on.

Sam had gotten the tent flap open and peered out, Cas and Dean hovering behind him. Sam motioned to them to be quiet and then flipped the flashlight on, scanning the campsite.

A dark shadow came into view, huge and furry and Cas' breath caught in his throat, before he saw it was a bear.

"Aw, man," Dean muttered, cocking his gun.

"Dean, just stay still," Sam hissed.

The bear seemed to have found the remains of the fish from dinner even though Sam had buried them, apparently there was still enough of a smell for a bear to find though. But it had stopped its exploration when it caught sight of Sam's flashlight, looking unsure of how to proceed.

The three hunters held their breath, wondering what would happen next, when there was a sound further in the woods and the bear seemed to not like it at all. It turned toward the tent and started toward the three hunters.

"Oh crap," Dean cried, and lifted his gun. "Loud noises scare these things, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

Without another word, Dean shot a round into the dark woods. The bear started and growled then charged blindly off to one side.

Unfortunately, that meant it got caught on part of the tent, tripping up the bear as it tried to make its retreat.

The tent lurched and several of the poles twanged, collapsing the whole thing on top of the three men and the bear.

A frantic struggle ensued as all participants tried to fight free. Dean was shouting, Cas got an elbow in the nose, and Sam was trying to be the voice of reason, until someone's flailing limb caught him in the groin.

Eventually, they realized that the bear had managed to extricate itself and was long gone into the woods. Unfortunately, the three of them were tangled in the collapsed tent, caught in a pile of tent poles, sleeping bags and errant limbs.

Sam groaned, curled up tight, and Cas' nose dripped blood onto Dean's shoulder since he'd somehow managed to collapse on top of both the Winchesters. In retrospect it had probably been his knee in Sam's crotch.

"I'm gonna say it again," Dean growled. "I friggin' hate camping."

At that moment, Sam and Cas had to silently agree.

The next morning, they packed up the thrashed tent and the rest of their stuff and trooped back down to the trailhead, Cas with a bruised nose, and Sam with a limp since extricating the tent had caused him to twist his ankle. Dean didn't speak a word to them until they got back to the parking lot at the trailhead and he saw that the Impala was untouched by the ravages of granola-munching hipsters in their Priuses.

"Aw, Baby, you are a sight for sore eyes," Dean said with a grin, running his hand over the car's hood before they chucked their luggage into the trunk.

"What do you say we hit a diner on the way out, and have a hot meal that's not cooked over a campfire?" Dean asked.

"That was actually the good part of the trip," Sam muttered as he eased into the passenger seat.

Dean shrugged. "Yeah, okay, so overall, I guess it wasn't as sucky as I thought it would be."

Cas smiled slightly at that.

"But next time, we're going to the fricken' beach," Dean added as he started the car.

"Okay, Dean, next time," Sam said.

Well, if nothing else, their tent fiasco would make them glad to get back to the bunker.